Melvin Dunlap played bass on several classic soul and R&B recordings beginning in the early 1970s. When he was a kid, he was sick and stuck in bed for an extended period of time and s...
Keith Chen joined the Tom Lee Music Company in Hong Kong as a guitar salesman. The large store had a small guitar department when Keith first joined the company and he took great pride i...
Ernst Lang married Paula Prüller 1958 in Luby, Czech Republic, formerly named Schönbach, and both came from families involved in the production of musical instruments. Ernst Lang’s father...
Randy "Baja" Fletcher was a well respected production manager of live events who won the 2010 Parnelli Life Time Achievement Award for his dedication to the industry. His long and passio...
Hershel Green spent much of his career in the piano and organ field, working as salesman, technician, and tuner. Along the way, he gained the respect of reps and dealers alike. As a side ...
Johnny Thompson had the distinction of being the very first music student of a young steel guitar player named Ernie ball. Back in the early 1950s, before he established a string company,...
Tom T. Hall loved telling a good old country story, you know the ones with a twist at the end and plenty of references to beer and fishin’. When he set those stories to music he helped la...
Dan Slick grew up in Johnstown, PA playing the family’s upright piano but soon switched his focus to the organ. He began his career in the music industry working at Fulton Piano and Organ...
Roy Gaines, like his brother, Grady, who played saxophone for Little Richard, made his mark in the early days of rock and roll. As a blues guitarist, Roy recorded a number of songs for RC...
Mike Finnigan was a leading Hammond B3 performer who recorded with many of the top performers in pop, rock, and jazz for nearly 60 years, although his soul had always been rooted in rhyth...
Mel Schiff and his wife Sally established All County Music in Tamarac, Florida. The first store opened in 1976 with a strong focus on band and orchestra music and repair. However, Mel’s...
Steve Bosse served as president of the Artley Flute Company in the years after his father, Richard, led the company. Richard and Steve worked together to expand the company and relocate ...
Charles Connor was a pioneer in the early beat of rock and roll. As a drummer in New Orleans in the early 1950s, he played with Professor Longhair and became the original drummer for Litt...
Hillel Resner wrote for Mix Magazine for several years before the idea of creating a special award for audio engineering came into existence. Hillel worked alongside David Schwartz, the f...
Luis Miranda often visited the Palladium Theater as a teenager to dance. During one visit, Luis was asked by a member of the band if he played the congas since their conga player was out ...
Byron Berline established the Double Stop Fiddle Shop in Oklahoma back in 1995. The store became a major hub for musicians which bought and sold a great number of both vintage and new in...
Morris “Arnie” Lang played percussion for the New York Philharmonic for over 40 years and wrote the book on percussive technique -- literally. Arnie became involved with the music product...
Dave Bresnan had a true passion for music that began when he was fifteen when he learned to play the piano. Throughout the 1960’s, Dave played guitar and banjo in several groups after dis...
James Harman was a Blues harmonica player who shared the staged with some of the biggest names in music history. James was just a young man performing at clubs and bars in the 1960s and 7...
Mudge Miller was a veteran of the Chicago Musical Instrument Company and had expressed great satisfaction in working under Mr. M.H. Berlin, the president of CMI for many years. Mr. Berlin...
Joan White began her career with Muncie Music Center in 1944, just three years after the store opened. She remained with the store until her retirement in 2016. Although she started by o...
Bob Koester was the founder of the Delmark label who began recording blues and jazz in 1953 in St. Louis. He later moved to Chicago where he helped define the music scene by recording art...
Lloyd Price had no idea that his 1952 recording of "Lawdy Miss Clawdy" would become a cornerstone in the foundation of rock 'n' roll! Masterful piano playing by Fats Domino, perfectly tim...
John Dee Holeman was an influential blues performer known as the last surviving original musician who popularized the Piedmont Blues style. The finger-picking guitar style was also known...
Arthur Gurwitz joined Southern Music Company in the late 1940s, soon after his military service during World War II. He expanded the business into publishing, and soon the Southern Music ...
Al Schmitt’s career as a recording engineer covered more than 60 years of innovations in pro audio development in nearly every musical style. Al was the recording engineer for many musica...
Max Cooke was an Australian classically trained pianist and professor who wrote a series of method books to assist his students. He began teaching piano students at the University of Melb...
Larry Peyser spent most of his career in the music wholesale business. Larry’s sister married Abbott Buegelesien after World War II and over the years Larry did not just work for the comp...
Lee Donais may be the only industry member who played piano (as part of the Navy Band) for three United States Presidents: Johnson, Nixon and Ford. After his career with the Navy Band, L...
Vinny Testa was the founder of Testa Communications, which he established in 1984 to provide the music products industry with such trade magazines as The Music & Sound Retailer and DJ...
Phil Jost had a very interesting career in music as a musician before joining the sales team at St. Louis Music in 1974 and thus entering the music products industry. In his early days, b...
Pat Rizzo heard Sly Stone was looking for a sax player to join the band. He went backstage at a concert with his horn and Sly told him to go into the bathroom. Sly asked if he was good a...
